Four-year trajectory of Korean youth mental health and impacts of school environment and school counselling: a observational study using national schools database.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:This study aimed to investigate changes in the mental health status of South Korean adolescents at a school level and identify school-related factors affecting these changes. DESIGN:A retrospective data analysis, population study. SETTING:South Korean high schools from 2013 to 2016. PARTICIPANTS:Randomly sampled 827 schools (316?834 boys and 299?304 girls) PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean scores of the Adolescent Mental Health and Problem Behavior Questionnaire-II (AMPQ-II), a school-based mental health screening test, were used to explore changes in youth mental health. Data regarding the school environment and school counselling were gathered from the 'School info' website. A multilevel growth model was used to determine relationships between students' mental health and school-related factors. RESULTS:Students' mental health statuses in South Korea gradually improved over time (coefficient=-1.46?to -1.70, p<0.001). School mobility rates (coefficient=0.93?to 1.00, p<0.05), school dropout rates (coefficient=0.38?to 0.40, p<0.001), school budgets per student (coefficient=-0.05?to -0.06, p<0.01) and number of school counselling sessions (coefficient=0.14, p<0.01) were significantly associated with baseline AMPQ-II scores. The rate of change in AMPQ-II score increased when the number of school counselling sessions was higher (coefficient=-0.03, p<0.05) or the school budget was lower (coefficient=0.02, p<0.001). School environment explained 21.6% of the AMPQ-II baseline score variance and 9.3% of the rate of change variance. School counselling further explained 2.0% of the variance in baseline AMPQ-II scores and 2.3% of the rate of change variance. CONCLUSIONS:This study suggests that school environment stability and active provision of school-based mental health services have a positive impact on youth mental health.
SUBMITTER: Park S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6887064 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
ACCESS DATA